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This wine truly has the expression of the exceptional local soil in the vineyards of Vouvray. Vouvray Sec Silex comes from old vines lying on a hillside facing south. The soil here consists of large flints, massive, clay and limestone. This situation is unique to this vineyard and gives the wines the famous ''flinty flavour''.
Although the current top executive is the 10th generation winemaker, Domaine D'Orfeuilles has only existed for a relatively short time. Great-grandfather planted 2 acres of vineyard at the beginning of the 20th century. Just after World War II, in 1946 he was succeeded by his son, who planted 4 more acres. In turn, he handed over the baton in 1983 to the father of the current owner, Arnaud Herivault who has held the scepter since 2000.
D'Orfeuilles owes its name to a former chateau a stone's throw from the estate. This is where the body physician of Francois the 1st lived. It is a beautiful part of France. Rolling and green. Not for nothing did so many wealthy people settle in this valley. The great châteaux are truly unique and testify to the almost unlimited wealth of the owners.
Arnaud studied viticulture in Amboise and later the more financial side of the wine world in Libourne. When he took over the estate in 2000 there were 15 hectares, now there are 21, of the total 2400 hectares within the Appellation. There is a nice distribution between the plots, all of which are within a 1500-meter radius of the cellar. The soil types are coarse gravel, calcareous clay and the famous flint, called "Silex" in France.
It's only a small estate where some 70,000 to 80,000 bottles of the finest wine are bottled annually. The rest of the production goes unnamed to the bulk trade. In 2010, Arnaud was at a meeting where he learned that viticulture accounts for only 7% of all French agriculture and horticulture. However these 7% do consume an overwhelming 30% of all chemical pesticides. He decided that things had to change and started working "poison-free. In 2014, the first organically certified wines were made. In 2016, he started cultivating all plots according to the biodynamic teachings put forward by Rudolph Steiner.
The wines range from wafer dry to civilized sweet. For their demi sec version 'Les Coudraies' he recently received a 'platinum award' in London. The dry wines are beautiful, fresh, clean and elegant. The Silex variety receives a short period of barrel aging.
